John Key is off to New York for the annual Leaders Week and the UN’s 70th anniversary. With a third of New Zealand’s two-year Security Council stint already complete, it’s timely to determine whether a distinct and consistent New Zealand view has been emerging on the Council.
Undertaking this assessment means getting through a veritable pile of statements which New Zealand’s representatives have made since January. This is a rare pleasure because the Key and McCully years have been lean ones for the production of declaratory foreign policy. At an average of six statements per month, New Zealand is on target in 2015 to exceed the total of Security Council statements made in the previous six years. Of course a very significant increase was always to be expected given New Zealand’s new (albeit temporary) role. But the five statements delivered already by New Zealand’s Foreign Minister himself outnumber the total number of his speeches to all venues in 2013 and 2014 which can be found on the Beehive archive.